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LeBlanc Build Guide by crystalfortress

Assassin AP Assassin Leblanc - Deception on the Rift

Assassin AP Assassin Leblanc - Deception on the Rift

Updated on March 28, 2014
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League of Legends Build Guide Author crystalfortress Build Guide By crystalfortress 37,939 Views 18 Comments
37,939 Views 18 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author crystalfortress LeBlanc Build Guide By crystalfortress Updated on March 28, 2014
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Introduction


Hi there, my name's Crystalfortress, and this is my guide to LeBlanc, the Deceiver, as well as my second guide on Mobafire. To tell you a bit about myself, I am an avid League of Legends player playing on the North American Server and living in California. I recently picked up LeBlanc and absolutely loved her playstle, but when i went on Mobafire, none of the highly rated guides fit my playstyle, so I decided to make my own guide. I am currently ranked in Silver V, however, I think (and hope) that you will find that my ranking doesn't reflect my ability to write guides. Please make sure to read the whole guide before you vote, and no matter whether you give me a positive or negative vote, make sure to give feedback in the comments section (I will try to keep an eye on it).
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Pros / Cons



PROS
  • Very strong early game
  • Huge Burst Damage
  • Lots of crowd control ( sigil of silence silence and Ethereal Chains slow and root)
  • Great at roaming


sigil of silence
CONS
  • Very squishy
  • Weak against crowd control
  • Mediocre teamfights
  • Requires medium-high mechanical skill
  • Weak early game waveclear and pushing
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Masteries




OFFENSE


I go 22 points in the offense tree to provide me with the best damage possible. This tree provides you with lots of Ability Power to quickly take down your enemies. I put the additional 1 point into Feast / Dangerous Game because I prefer the additional sustain in lane or low-life dueling potential to the advantages from the other trees.


DEFENSE


I go 5 points into defense to help sustain through LeBlancs very squishy early game. Recovery provides you with health regen to help your sustain and Block and Unyielding help mitigate early game harass, especially from auto-attacks.


UTILITY


I like to put three points into the Meditation mastery for the additional mana sustain. This allows you to play more aggressively early game by giving you more mana to harass with.
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Runes





MY PREFFERED RUNES


QUINTESSENCES




Greater Quintessence of Ability Power is usually the best choice on LeBlanc, providing you with ability power to deal more damage.

SEALS




I use Greater Seal of Armor to help LeBlanc with her squishiness. Armor allows you to stop more physical damage. Especially useful against an AD mid laner.

GLYPHS




I use Greater Glyph of Magic Resist to help with LeBlancs squishiness. Magic resist helps stop more magic damage. Especially useful against AP mid laners.

MARKS


greater mark of hybrid penetration


I prefer using greater mark of hybrid penetration over Greater Mark of Magic Penetration because the additional armor penetration allows your early game auto attack damage to pass through much more of the enemy's base armor, allowing much more auto attack harass. Especially useful against close-range mid laners.


ALTERNATIVE RUNES


QUINTESSENCES




I use Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed in all of my builds because I don't have enough money to buy more runes and movement speed is a helpful statistic on every champion ever. It is also a fine replacement if you would rather move faster than get the damage bonuses from Greater Quintessence of Ability Power.

SEALS




One could use Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration if either the enemy team has a lot of AP champions (armor wouldn't be as necessary then) or you just want to play more aggressively in the early game (more mana = more spell casts, and thusly more harass and all-ins).

GLYPHS




If you wanted to, you could replace some of, or all of your Greater Glyph of Magic Resist with some Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction. This would increase your spell-casting power early game and, if you put enough in, could bring you to 40% cooldown reduction (the maximum) late game.

MARKS




Running Greater Mark of Magic Penetration as opposed to greater mark of hybrid penetration will give you more damage with your spells, but your auto attack harass won't be nearly as strong. One could also mix some of these into your hybrid penetration marks to account for some of the loss of magic penetration you suffer from running hybrid.
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Summoner Spells




MAIN SUMMONER SPELLS




Flash is an extremely powerful summoner spell on almost any champion. It provides you with the ability to jump over walls, allowing you to escape bad situations, surprise an unexpecting enemy, or flash in range for a kill you would have missed otherwise. Even on LeBlanc, with her short-cooldown dash in Distortion will benefit from this spell.



Ignite is a really good summoner spell for any kind of carry, allowing you to pick up kills that you would have missed otherwise. Use it only if you know it will kill the enemy, or if you are going all in against a regeneration-heavy enemy. Can be replaced by the spells in the ALTERNATIVE SUMMONER SPELLS section.


ALTERNATIVE SUMMONER SPELLS




An alternative summoner spell for Ignite if you are against an enemy with high burst damage. Could save your life in an all-in.



Another alternative for Ignite that could be run against an enemy team with lots of crowd control. This will allow you to escape more easily if you get caught in a bad situation.
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Abilities




LEVELING SEQUENCE EXPLANATION AND ALTERNATIVE


( >sigil of silence> > )


I would suggest running this leveling sequence in any matchup where you buy either the Zhonya's Hourglass or Athene's Unholy Grail, because this set gives you the best single-target burst damage without the aid of Deathfire Grasp. If you do rush Deathfire Grasp, I would suggest the next leveling pattern.

Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
( > >sigil of silence> ,early 3xsigil of silence)


This leveling pattern is only suggested if you rush Deathfire Grasp. This is because, with Deathfire Grasp, you don't need the extra damage you get from leveling sigil of silence above level 3 to quickly burst down a single target due to the damage amplification from the active, and the extra points in Distortion provide you with more mobility for roaming, and more waveclear so you can easily push back the wave when you do return to your lane. (Thanks for the suggestion, 97BligenN)


ABILITY EXPLANATIONS


PASSIVE




Your potentially (although rarely) life-saving passive. Creates a clone of yourself that looks exactly the same to enemies (although it appears purple to you) and starts walking in a similar direction to yourself. It can be controlled seperately using the ALT key (unless you've changed your hotkeys). A common strategy these days has been to send it back into anyone chasing you and hope that they're dumb enough to think it's the real one. A less common strategy is to send yourself back into the enemies and hope they're dumb enough to follow the clone. Either way, relying on this is risky, so don't plan on it saving you.

MAIN ABILITIES


sigil of silence


This ability is a targeted ability, meaning it will hit whoever the cursor is pointed at at the time of casting. Upon landing, it damages the enemy and leaves behind a mark that will be activated if you hit the enemy with another spell, silencing them and doing the same damage as when it first hit again. All of LeBlancs damage is based upon how you chain together her abilities (called comboing), so use of this ability is covered in the COMBOS chapter.



This ability is LeBlancs rather complicated dash ability. Upon activation, Leblanc dashes to the chosen location, dealing damage to enemies in an area around her and leaving behind a mark at her original location that she can return to in the next three seconds (so long as she isn't stunned, snared, silenced, or knocked up) by reactivating the ability. This ability can be used to dash through walls, much in the same way as Flash, or can be used to chase or run away from enemies. All of LeBlancs damage is based upon how you chain together her abilities (called comboing), so use of this ability is covered in the COMBOS chapter.



Ethereal Chains is a skillshot, meaning you have to hit your enemies with a projectile to deal damage. When this skill is used, LeBlanc sends out a chain, damaging, slowing and tethering the first enemy it hits. If this enemy remains tethered, They take a second dose of the same damage as when the ability first hit and get rooted to their current location. All of LeBlancs damage is based upon how you chain together her abilities (called comboing), so use of this ability is covered in the COMBOS chapter.

ULTIMATE ABILITY




Mimic is LeBlancs ultimate ability, meaning it only becomes available to put points into at levels 6, 11, and 16. Activating this ability repeats the last spell you cast, only more powerful. At max rank and with the full build, this ability has a 16 second cooldown, one of the lowest ultimate cooldowns in the game. All of LeBlancs damage is based upon how you chain together her abilities (called comboing), so use of this ability is covered in the COMBOS chapter.
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Items




STARTING ITEMS


The Doran's Ring start is my usual start. The Doran's Ring provides you with plenty of mana sustain through the mana regen and passive, ability power to make your spells stronger, and health to help with LeBlanc's squishiness. Two Health Potions provide you with good health sustain in lane.


The Crystalline Flask start is good against a mid lane opponent who has lots of harass. Overall, you get amazing sustain, which allows you to stay in lane and farm despite their harass. You can replace one of the Health Potions with a Mana Potion if you'd like, because this start doesn't provide you with as much mana sustain as a Doran's Ring, and that would help you be more aggressive by harassing more.


EARLY GAME ITEMS


Boots provide you with more movement speed (who would've guessed?). These are a good item to pick up early, as they provide you with more ability to avoid skillshots, chase down fleeing enemies, and run from anyone chasing you. They also build into Sorcerer's Shoes, an important mid game item.




Getting a couple of early Doran's Rings will provide you with a lot of helpful stats. The health and ability power are nice stats, but the main reason is for the additional mana sustain. Get a couple of these so long as you aren't against an AP opponent, because if you are then you'll be building an Athene's Unholy Grail early, which will provide you with plenty of mana sustain on it's own.

Getting an early Fiendish Codex can be really helpful. The additional ability power increases the strength of your harass and burst combos, and the cooldown reduction helps you unleash said burst and harass more often. Also builds into both the Athene's Unholy Grail and the Deathfire Grasp. Against AD opponents, a Seeker's Armguard is more advisable, as we won't be building anything from this for a while.

Chalice of Harmony provides you with some really helpful early game stats. Magic resist is important for helping you take more damage if you are against an AP mid laner. However, the main thing that makes this item useful is the immense amounts of mana sustain it gives you. Buy this early instead of Doran's Rings if you are against an AP mid laner, because the early stats are helpful and it builds into an Athene's Unholy Grail. Seeker's Armguard is a great early game item against AD mid laners. The armor it provides helps mitigate the physical damage they will deal, and the ability power is good for increasing your spell damage. Also builds into Zhonya's Hourglass, an important early item against AD opponents.




Needlessly Large Rod will provide you with some HUGE damage if you have enough to get one early. 80 Ability power is massive, especially with the strong scaling that LeBlanc has on all of her abilities. Also builds into both Zhonya's Hourglass and Deathfire Grasp. Don't feel bad about buying one early against an AP opponent though, because it's well worth it to have it sitting in your inventory for a while.


MID GAME ITEMS


This is my suggested mid game goals against an AP mid laner. One of the main advantages of these items is the massive mana sustain and cooldown reduction, allowing you to spam your skills practically non-stop in lane, harassing your opponent really hard. Magic resist is also nice for allowing you to take more harass from the enemy AP mid. The ability power is less than the other two mid game item sets, but it makes up for this through the increased mana sustain and by being a lot cheaper in total than the other two mid game item sets, allowing you to build the rest of your build quicker.




These are my suggested mid game items against an AD mid laner. This provides you with plenty of ability power for damage, armor to help mitigate the enemy laner's physical damage, and the Sorcerer's Shoes provide you with magic penetration, and the ability to get back to lane quickly after recalling. The Doran's Ring helps with the lack of mana sustain you get by not building an early Athene's Unholy Grail. The active on Zhonya's Hourglass can save your booty if you get caught in a bad situation, and can be helpful since most AD mid laners these days use burst damage.



This mid game item set is only for if you are absolutely dominating your lane early game, and want to be able to roam to other lanes early and help those lanes dominate too. The Deathfire Grasp will allow you to burst down almost any champion on the rift early game thanks to its active component and its extremely high AP. The Doran's Ring is to help with mana sustain due to the fact that you won't be rushing Athene's Unholy Grail. The Sorcerer's Shoes provide you with magic penetration, which not only helps your regular damage, but also synergizes really well with the active from Deathfire Grasp, as well as extra speed and the ability to get back to lane really fast after recalling.


FINISHED BUILD



The build order after the mid game will change a lot depending on how the game's going and which champions the enemy team are playing. In this section I will talk about when to get these items if you did not pick them up in the mid game.

You should always have gotten your Sorcerer's Shoes by the time that you are out of the mid game. They provide you with magic penetration, a helpful stat for making your magic damage get through more of the enemy team's magic resist, as well as movement speed. Homeguard enchantment allows you to get back to your lane fast after recalling, or to switch to another lane fast if you are needed elsewhere.







If you have not completed Athene's Unholy Grail by mid game because you built a Zhonya's Hourglass, it is unlikely that you will need it for a while, unless they have an AP jungler or roaming top laner that is getting fed. In this case, don't build one until you need to start getting rid of your Doran's Rings, because you will need it then for the mana sustain. If you didn't get it because you got a Deathfire Grasp and you are against an AP mid laner, it might be a good idea to pick one up after the Deathfire Grasp so you can resist the magic damage that they will eventually be dealing.

If you weren't against an AD mid laner, you shouldn't have one of these completed by after the mid game. In that case, don't buy one until teamfights are a common occurence (the late game), because then the enemy ADC may be shooting you. However, if the enemy AD jungler or roaming top lane is getting fed, or if the enemy ADC is starting to roam mid, it might be a good idea to pick one up after your Athene's Unholy Grail. If you got a Deathfire Grasp early and you are against an AD mid laner, it might be a good idea to get one after your Deathfire Grasp to help mitigate the physical damage that they will eventually be dealing to you.

If you weren't stomping your lane opponent in the early game, you will have ended up with either a Zhonya's Hourglass or Athene's Unholy Grail by the mid-late game. If, after getting one of these items, you start to beat your opponent to the point where you can roam to other lanes, then picking one of these up will definitely be helpful. Otherwise, it is suggested to build a Rabadon's Deathcap before you get one of these. This item gives you a HUGE boost in ability power, increasing your overall damage in both harass and all-ins more than any other item. Start working on one of these after your Athene's Unholy Grail or Zhonya's Hourglass if you still don't want to roam after completing those items. Other wise pick up a Deathfire Grasp, as it helps your burst a lot.


Void Staff is usually not necessary until the late game, because it is only really helpful against tanks. Against squishy carries, Rabadon's Deathcap is more helpful, and Deathfire Grasp is more helpful in roaming, so this is usually your last or second-to-last item. Also buy if you see the enemy laners buying a lot of magic resist, so you can still burst them down.




ALTERNATIVE ITEMS


Mercury's treads could be used if the enemy team has some REALLY bad cc. The magic resist can actually also be helpful in a lane against an AP mid, but the main attraction is the Tenacity. Tenacity reduces the length of all crowd control effects, and can save your bacon if you get caught out by a Dark Binding or Cocoon. Usually not preferrable to Sorcerer's Shoes, but could be a situational alternative.







A possible replacement for Zhonya's Hourglass or maybe Athene's Unholy Grail for the situation that you are completely carrying your team and, as such, are getting focused in the team fights. This will give your team an opportunity to save you in the event that the enemy team does manage to take you down. Not necessary in most situations, since LeBlanc has pretty safe assassinations AND you have a Zhonya's Hourglass for added safety in the core build, but could be good for even MORE safety.





Could be used to replace Athene's Unholy Grail, due to the fact it provides you with magic resist and ability power in the same manner. The reason I prefer Athene's Unholy Grail in most situations is becaus the 20% cooldown reduction is nice, the ability power and magic resist are almost exactly the same, and the huge mana sustain is a good safety net for if your jungler doesn't give you the blue buff or it gets stolen from you. However, the magic penetration aura is nice on LeBlanc, since most of your assassinations are in close range. Potential replacement for Athene's Unholy Grail if you know you can secure all of your team's blue buffs.
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Gameplay




EARLY GAME



Early game, LeBlanc has a major advantage over most laners. After level two, use the Q-W harass combo listed in the COMBOS chapter to harass your enemy low, and if they stick around on low health after you hit level three, dash in using Distortion and burst them down using any of the suggested burst combos in the COMBOS chapter. At level 6, you hit a pretty big power spike once you get your ult, especially if you've denied them enough experience to hit 6 before they have. You might be able to capitalize on this power spike by pulling an all-in on them if they are on low health. You can also try to use your ult if you want to go back but don't want to create an EXP/gold discrepancy between you and your enemy laner to get them low enough so that you can recall when they do. If they try to harass you with an aoe ability, you can Distortion on them to dodge it and get some good harass.


MID GAME



Leblanc is still strong throughout the mid game, using the advantages she should hopefully have acrued in the early game to roam to top or bot lane and help those lanes snowball as well. To do this, go to another lane, head over so you are in the river/jungle area near where their laner is, and wait until they are in a good position to land your abilities. When they are, jump in using Distortion and unleash one of the burst combos listed in the COMBOS chapter. Hopefully, with some help from your laner, you will net your team the kill. If your lane is behind, try to give them the kill so they can earn the shut down gold for the kill, helping them bounce back. Other than roaming, try to continue to press the advantage on your enemy laner, hopefully denying them more gold and experience.


LATE GAME



Leblanc isn't as helpful late game as she is in the mid and early game. She can still use her burst damage to take down any enemy that you catch out of position, but she only really has single-target damage, making her not very good in teamfights compared to other AP mid laners. You should hopefully have had enough of an impact on the game thus far that you can rely on the rest of your team for the teamfights. When your team does get in a teamfight, try to be on the flank, and Distortion right back into the enemy's carries, trying to burst one of them down. Your other job in the late game is to try to catch single enemies out of position. If one of the enemy carries walks by a ward out in the middle of the jungle on a rotation, your job is to be ready and burst them down. This requires some experience predicting the enemy's location and predicting where they will rotate to, but it is the best use of your talents late game. During baron fights, if the area is properly warded, you should be able to see the way the enemies are approaching the baron pit and may be able to jump one of their carries on his/her way in, potentially preventing them from contesting your team's baron.
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Combos



LeBlanc's burst damage is entirely based upon her casting her abilities in a certain order on a certain enemy (called comboing), due to the way her sigil of silence and Mimic work in conjunction with your other abilities. I will cover the best combos you can use for many different purposes, and tell you about the possible uses for each. Let's get started.



PRE-6 / NO ULT DAMAGE COMBOS


sigil of silence->


This combo is your best way to harass your opponent at level two, and beyond if they are standing in the middle of their minion wave. The enemy will get sigil of silences base damage, the mark damage, as well as the Distortion damage. It is hard for most enemy mid laners to avoid the large Distortion aoe, almost assuring success. The silence from the sigil of silence mark prevents a lot of mid laners from presenting any damage in return. Reactivate w to return back to safety.

sigil of silence->


This combo can be used to poke at the enemy laner if they step out from behind their minions. Make sure to keep enemies tethered so that they take the second instance of damage from Ethereal Chains. This shouldn't be hard, since they will be silenced and thusly unable to use any blinks or dashes to get away and you can just walk towards them. This combo deals some pretty crazy damage, especially considering it's only two of your abilities. They will be rooted by the end, stopping a lot of mid laners from retaliating.

->sigil of silence->


This is your pre-6 all-in combo. Don't use this if it won't kill the enemy or force them out of lane, because it's pretty mana hungry. If you land it all, you will get the full damage from all of your abilities, and they will start off silenced and slowed, then end up rooted, leaving them very little chance of retalitation. This combo is what gives you your kill potential in lane. Also use this if roaming and your ult isn't up, but you know you can kill the enemy laner.


POST-6 / ULT UP DAMAGE COMBOS


-> ->sigil of silence-> ->


Huge burst damage combo. If everything is landed, this combo can easily 100-0 most squishies mid-late game with the proper items. Use the Deathfire Grasp active after Distortion if you have bought it, otherwise skip this step. The main problem is that you have to wait around for both of the Ethereal Chains to get their second damage instance to kill most enemies. That's why I prefer the one below, which provides better up-front burst, and has an extended silence , but less slow duration and root duration.

-> ->sigil of silence-> ->


This combo runs on the same premise as the previous one, maximum damage in as short a time as possible. The reason I prefer this one is because, since the Mimiced sigil of silences second instance of damage activates as soon as the Ethereal Chains hits, the burst damage is more front-loaded. This means that if the enemy is killed before the second damage from Ethereal Chains is even needed, then you can immediately reactivate Distortion and book it out of their instead of having to wait around for your Ethereal Chains and its Mimiced version to reactivate like in the previous combo. In addition, the fact that you have one less skillshot to hit makes this combo easier.


POST-6 MOBILITY COMBO


->


Using mimic to copy your previously cast Distortion can allow you to cover insane distances in extremely short time frames (more than almost any other champion). You can use this combo to chase down low-health fleeing enemies, run away from bad situations, quickly cover distance to aid one of your allies, or jump right into the back line from insane distances in team fights. And the best part is, it leaves behind two marks that you can return to, allowing you to confuse and (you guessed it) deceive your opponents.
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Matchups



I have, unfortunately, not played very many ranked games with LeBlanc, and thusly don't have very much experience to put into a MATCHUPS section. Whenever I play a match, I will update this section with my thoughts on the matchup. I could also use feedback in the comments section telling me about your experiences with the build, who you were against, and how you fared, if you would like. Thank you for any feedback you can provide.
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Summary



Thanks for reading my guide and I hope that you liked it! Whether you did or didn't, make sure to vote this guide up or down based on your opinion, and leave a comment telling me how it could be improved, your experience with the build, and what you liked and didn't like. I'm always open to criticism, so long as it's constructive and non-inflammatory, so don't worry about offending me. Once again, thank you for reading, and gl,hf.
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Changelog



3/27/2014 - Guide started, finished (much to my surprise), and published.
3/28/2014 - Multiple changes, including to Marks, tweaking in pros/cons section, more summoner spells, added leveling explanation and alternative leveling pattern to ABILITIES chapter, and cleanup of messy formatting in the ITEMS chapter. Thanks for your feedback, 97BligenN, EdisonKhoo, emoriam, and Emikadon.
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crystalfortress LeBlanc Guide
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AP Assassin Leblanc - Deception on the Rift

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